Square President and CEO Yoichi Wada sat down with Mainichi Interactive to discuss his company's first online game, Final Fantasy XI. He expects the game to remain online for four to five years, thanks to constant updates (such as new events, maps, etc.), that should keep players interested. A team of staffers will exclusively work full-time on those updates.

As expected, the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XI on May 16th will be followed by a US release later this year. After the release on this side of the Pacific, the rest of the world will be able to start playing the eleventh installment in the Final Fantasy series.

On a sidenote, Wada mentioned that Square was working on an unspecified, light-hearted online RPG scheduled for a 2003 release date.